Any decent books out there?

[Awesome Sauceome]

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Hey my folkes are bugging the crap out of me asking for a christmas list. I remembered a couple of good books a physician I talked to recently suggested:

War Hospital
Five days at memorial (both by Sheri Fink)

I have read Dr. Q's book, as well as a few others like it. I am looking for books that are just easy to read but insightful. I think some things in medicine are very interesting more or less because of the moral and ethical problems that exist today. So I am not looking for a textbook, nor some really flowery narrative. I am hoping for some books that are somewhere in between.

Any ideas?

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

or for that matter, just ANY books that you would really suggest. Is the game of thrones series actually any good?

 

[Arayh]

Kathyrn Montgomery, How Doctors Think: Clinical Judgment and the Practice of Medicine
Jerome Groopman, How Doctor's Think
Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

In my opinion, these are all interesting reads.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

cool thanks a bunch I think I have read Groopman's and Skloot's books, they were decent. Skloot's sort of slowed down a lot in the second half, but it wasnt bad. Thanks for the suggestions

 

[Jabbed]

House of God by Samuel Shem is considered almost mandatory for aspiring docs.

Game of Thrones series is pretty great (currently on book 5) and you'll definitely enjoy it if you like the series. Better/Complications by Atul Gawande are medically related and fodder for your interviews.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

awesome suggestions! The better/complications set looks really interesting

 

[dnovikov]

Since you mentioned atul, his book "Checklist manifesto" is a gem as well

 

[amazing tekkers]

Moonwalking with Einstein is an interesting read with practical memory techniques.
Flora and Ulysses is also pretty good.

 

[SweetDee04]

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is very interesting and I was able to discuss it a little in one of my recent interviews 🙂

 

[karayaa]

Have you seen this
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/specialty-specific-book-recommendations.1045306/
and this
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/some-worthwhile-summer-reading.293681/

 

[milkandcereal]

or for that matter, just ANY books that you would really suggest. Is the game of thrones series actually any good?

I enjoyed the Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. It traces the history of cancer and cancer treatments; pretty interesting read. I also really like most anything by Oliver Sacks, but he can be a little polarizing. I know lots of people that can't stand his writing.

If you're looking for something non-medical, I loved House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's terrifying and easily the most bizarre book I've ever read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure if you're into e-books, but this is definitely one that you need to get a paper copy of; the author does a lot of crazy things with formatting that wouldn't translate well to a Kindle/Nook/etc.

 

[turayza]

Game of Thrones is 100% worth it, if you're looking for good fiction. Expect to spend a week with a nose in the series!

 

[Funke]

Neil Gaiman 👍 Wish I had more time to read fiction.

 

[kaprincess247]

Weekends at Bellevue by Julie Holland
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

 

[Omppu27]

IMO Better and Complication are much more entertaining than Checklist Manifesto. The only reason I finished checklist was because I felt like I had to after reading better and complications. It'd be great if he came out with a new book soon. Also, you can find lots of his writing on the New Yorker.

 

[Corningstone]

"Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach. Interesting book about how cadavers started being used in med schools and how they have made huge contributions to our society.

Other random books:
Game of Thrones series, hands down. Especially books 1-3. THEY'RE AMAZING
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.. He has a new book too that's supposed to be really good (of course)
"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See

 

[KindofBlue]

Sherwin Nuland's "The Soul of Medicine" and "Erasing Death" by Sam Parnia.
For fiction, I like almost anything written by Jhumpa Lahiri, especially her Pulitzer winning short stories "Interpreter of Maladies."
For now I'm staying up at night with Game of Thrones!

 

[papi89]

House of God if you are looking for a great (and cynical) medical book, and Steve Jobs biography if you're looking for a non-medical read about a fascinating guy

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Wow thank you all so much. This is awesome, I half expected this thread to just die heh. I'll throw out there a book called "the end of illness" to anyone that is interested. It sort of goes through some of the current treatments for cancer and just like how basically our entire thought process for treating diseases may not be as useful as we thought

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[itsthat1guy]

Faulkner is hands down my favorite author, try ad i lay dying, off I had to pick it's my favorite novel by him.if you enjoy Faulkner try cormac McCarthy after, specifically blood meridian. His prose is similar.apologies for the poor spelling/grammar I'm on my phone

or for that matter, just ANY books that you would really suggest. Is the game of thrones series actually any good?

 

[Charles Ferraro]

Flora and Ulysses is also pretty good.

 

[QuantumJ]

11/22/63 by S King. Foundation series by Asimov. The Hobbit and LOTR trilogy by Tolkien.

 

[Reckoner]

Faulkner is hands down my favorite author, try ad i lay dying, off I had to pick it's my favorite novel by him.if you enjoy Faulkner try cormac McCarthy after, specifically blood meridian. His prose is similar.apologies for the poor spelling/grammar I'm on my phone

+1 for McCarthy. A Light in August is a good Faulkner book to start with, since it's not as difficult as most of his other stuff.

 

[rolliespring]

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is very interesting and I was able to discuss it a little in one of my recent interviews 🙂

Started reading it today, interesting book 🙂

 

[PapaGuava]

or for that matter, just ANY books that you would really suggest. Is the game of thrones series actually any good?

The Game of Thrones series is actually very good in my opinion. It is very detailed.
-I'm also looking for books as well, i need some good ones.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Well I would read "becoming Dr. Q" he has a super interesting story.

"the hot zone" is pretty awesome

"the road" thought you have to put up with the horrible writing style

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[Reckoner]

"the road" thought you have to put up with the horrible writing style

"Horrible" might be a bit much. It definitely takes some getting used to, but I think it fits really well with the general atmosphere of the book.

 

[911 Turbo]

in b4 house of god

 

[C.glabrata123]

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Smart Medicine by William Hanson, MD

and if you have time:
The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr

 

[Kinch]

No medical suggestions... but other than that

East of Eden by Steinbeck
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
A Walk in the Woods (Bryson?)

Some of my favorites

 

[deleted407021]

Nothing intellectual but the Belgariad and associated series by David Eddings and the Iron Tower Trilogy by McKiernan are great for fantasy readers.

 

[Spica]

Michael Crichton - Anything really, but if you want something that relates to medicine specifically, you could read Five Patients. It is about Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1960ies.

Robert Heinlein - Citizen of the Galaxy, Have a Space Suit will Travel, etc

Arthur Hailey - The Final Diagnosis (also about medicine, very insightful).

Stanislav Lem - Peace on Earth - a science fiction take on the consequences of a severed corpus callosum (the fibers that connect the two halves of the brain)

Enjoy! 🙂

 

[Spica]

11/22/63 by S King. Foundation series by Asimov. The Hobbit and LOTR trilogy by Tolkien.

Great to see Asimov suggestion!

 

[Status Sciaticus]

Depends on your preference

History --- God's War (a historical account of the Holy Crusades)
--- Team of Rivals ( account of Lincoln and his influence on the Union)
Thriller ---- The Judas Strain ( outbreak of a fictional virus)
---- Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy ( espionage)
Comical --- Zombie Survival Guide ( LOL)